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'The best books, reviewed with insight and charm, but without compromise.' - author Jackie French

Saturday, 11 May 2013

Review: Better Out Than In: Number Twos

The second book in this hilarious series by author Adam (Wally) Wallace comes with an author warning. About grossness. About being so gross, even the grosness has been grossonified.

It's like, if the grossness level in the first book - Better Out Than In - was a nine on the grossness scale, Numbers Twos would be approximately 1,000,000,000.340 on that same grossness scale (according to the author).

So - in short - be warned. And if you are an 8-year-old boy, you will surely take no heed of the warning and instead be skipping around with glee.
Broken down into five bile-churning stories, we begin with Valerie's Vomit: Now Extra Chunky. And at the swimming pool, no less.

Next is Nancy's Nose: Blame it on the Boogie (complete with mucus-covered disco ball), followed by Whoops 2: May the Fart Be With You, Bob's Burp: Bobby's Too Burpalicious For You and Peter's Pimple: Grossness Pusonified.

Are you getting a hold on the grossonification?

Told in rhyme with a comic wit and pop-culture saturation that will resonate strongly with anyone born post-2000, I must admit I found Number Twos surprisingly enjoyable and openly funny. Let's face it - even if farts and bodily fluids are not your thing, kids undoubtedly find them hilarious - and there's little more thrilled than seeing a kid up to his eyeballs in a book, let alone laughing raucously while doing it.

Heavily illustrated with fabulous line-drawings by the superlative Heath McKenzie, Number Twos is a beautifully-designed book, with clever typefacing that will appeal to struggling readers in particular.

Make no mistake, this is fabulously fun writing and Adam Wallace doesn't hold back on that fun. If Andy Griffiths and Dr Seuss had a love child, it would be Wally.